The Social Contract and Discourses - Couverture souple

The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is a book in which Rousseau theorized about the best way to establish a political community in the face of the problems of commercial society, which he had already identified in his Discourse on Inequality (1754). The Social Contract helped inspire political reforms or revolutions in Europe, especially in France. The Social Contract argued against the idea that monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate. Rousseau asserts that only the people, who are sovereign, have that all-powerful right. In The Social Contract (1762) Rousseau argues that laws are binding only when they are supported by the general will of the people. When people aren't abiding the general will and they are "forced to be free", this wasn't advocating totalitarianism. The general will is laws that are accepted as just and those who don't follow the general will are breaking the law. Rousseau is advocating to force people to follow the law because it is in everyone's best interest to do so.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a major Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy heavily influenced the French Revolution, as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought. Rousseau was also a successful composer and made important contributions to music as a theorist.

During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophers among members of the Jacobin Club. Rousseau’s Social Contract is a cornerstone in modern political and social thought and makes a strong case for democratic government and social empowerment.